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Remembering death matures a person. He will be more filled with love, he will be more affectionate, able to think more deeply, more purged of earthly desires and more forgiving, of course. That is very important. Because people who do not think about death are generally superficial minded, weak in temperament, quickly affected by desires and events, attach great importance to other people and even, may Allah forbid, regard them as more important than Allah, and sickly. But people who reflect on death think deeply and become more mature and better, insha’Allah.

A9 TV, 4 September 2011

There is no reincarnation in the Qur’an. Allah says there is no return. That a screen comes down and they can no longer return. And what logic could there be to reincarnation? A person is tested now. How can there be reincarnation when he is being tested? For example, let us imagine I do something as a child. I try to do better. I try to do it better when I am 20 and 30. I gain experience. Because there is a rise in knowledge and experience. But in reincarnation they say, “You were a man in India, and now you have been reborn in this body.” We ask, “How do you know?” and the other person says, “I vaguely remember it.” In order for that to be of any use, all that man’s memories would also have to enter the new body. Then one could acquire experience and grow by acquiring new experiences. But since they are all gone they say, “I cannot remember anything.” Since there can be no new growth, since one cannot expect any moral improvement or superiority, and since no experience is acquired, what is the point? “My soul will be perfected,” they say. But how can the soul be perfected if no new knowledge or experience is acquired? Reincarnation is therefore totally illogical. A hollow belief. I talked this over with the Knights Templar who came here and convinced some of them. It is illogical.

A9 TV; 6 September 2011

Do you know what people think? Do you know what they think most about, night and day? They think most about death, day and night, even the ones who don’t want to. Life is pleasant and people want to live. That is why that instinct [to live forever] is satisfied in the believer, since he knows that he will live forever in the hereafter. But that instinct is not satisfied in disbelief, so they fall into a terrible depression. They are hugely troubled. That is the root cause of suicides, drink and drugs. They behave like that because of the pain that comes from thinking they are mortal. But suicide rates among believers and Muslims are very low, as you know. It is very rare among Muslims. May Allah forbid, it only arises in cases of temporary insanity, otherwise never. Because Muslims know they will go to paradise, insha’Allah, by Allah’s leave. They know that eternity has begun and will never end. And their hearts are at ease. They are fully submitted to Allah, they have abandoned themselves to Him. They enjoy peace and ease. A feeling of security arises, a satisfaction in the heart. And someone who feels that satisfaction has an easy conscience. But the body starts to react and tear itself apart when that instinct is not satisfied, when there is no feeling of eternity, in the absence of the satisfaction imparted by that feeling of submission. It attacks the brain and the skin and sends a person insane. And they kill themselves as a result, or they start drinking or taking drugs or become very unhappy. That is where it comes from.

A9 TV; 7 November 2011

(In answer to the questions “Could you tell us about the moment of death and afterward?” and “Could you tell us something more about the reality of matter?”)

I have already set out the reality of matter. I had begun to set it out. A brother of ours from daily Yeni Asya wrote in, Ümit Şimşek Hodja, I think. “He awakens a feeling of terror in people, it frightens them,” he said. As if to say, “Would it not be best if the Hodja did not discuss this matter?” I have heard that from many people. “It evokes an intense feeling of terror,” they say. So I then enquired what I ought to do. I said I could describe it in a more moderate way. In a gentle way. But people who fully understand the reality are terrified. They fall to their knees from fear of Allah. A huge terror may indeed enfold them. That is why I want to describe it gently and moderately. That is what I will do from 2012 on. Otherwise, if I wanted and by Allah’s leave, I could describe it in such a way they would feel it in their own bodies. People have such a mechanism. They can feel it and realize it in their own bodies.

Allah sets everything out in the Qur’an. But He sometime describes things symbolically. He sometimes speaks of the fires of hell, for instance. When He speaks of the fires of hell, I think of molten metal or flames spouting forth. I think of a person leaping up and down if he has burned his hand. It is impossible even to speak of someone falling into fire. One loses the ability to reason and literally goes into shock. Yet people in hell talk quite calmly. They even show off. They behave badly. They still insist on not believing in Allah even there. Their strange behavior persists even there.

But children’s souls are taken long before they die. At the moment of death it is as if a veil is lifted, and one moves from one place to another, as if waking out of sleep. People are often groggy and bemused when they wake up. Hazrat Ali (pbuh) says, “it is like waking out of sleep.” Indeed, people sometimes imagine they have woken up, whereas they are actually still asleep. That is the system. It is quite clear, as if one had just woken from sleep, insha’Allah. That is the reaction they make when they first wake up. That appears in the Qur’an; “Who has raised us from our place of sleep?”, they say we were sleeping, we were in a sleep. They try to work out where they are. Then the unbelievers say, “Alas for us!” “This is what the All-Merciful promised us. The Messengers were telling the truth.” It was true, they say. But they still continue to show off in the hereafter. They show off in the flames. In other words, it is not fire as we understand and know it. For example, Almighty Allah speaks of flames the size of camels. We do not know because it is relative. But we will understand it there. We will also see hell. All Muslims will see it. They will not enter it. But Muslims will pass by. They will see it for themselves. They will also see it as an image. They will have the opportunity to watch hell all the time, as if on a screen. But as the Qur’an says, Muslims will never be frightened or uneasy. They will be at ease right from the moment of death, when their souls are taken, and at all times thereafter. Allah gives constant guarantees on that. There are many verses about that. Allah says they will never be disturbed or made uneasy and their hearts will be at peace and at ease. But unbelievers will be stressed and terrified, the whole time. They follow the callers, and rush to where the sound comes from. The area is very large. Allah shows this to Muslims so they can enjoy it, for a change. Muslims get used to paradise once they have entered it. It becomes normal life for them. Being finite is very peculiar. It seems strange to us, doesn’t it, being finite? Everyone is bemused. We know it instinctively. Being finite does not seem logical to us. Being eternal does seem normal to us. That is why people actually begin their normal lives once eternity has begun in paradise. They live their true lives. And after that such questions never enter one’s mind. But faith still persists in paradise. Paradise is founded on trust in Allah. Because, may Allah forbid, a person may wonder there, “Will Allah permit me to live forever?” The believer trusts in Allah, and his heart is at peace. As you know, the Prophet Adam (pbuh) harbored doubts in. Satan told him he would not exist for ever. “There is a tree there. If you eat the fruit from it the materials in it will affect you and after that you will be eternal,” he said. “What Allah said is untrue [may Allah forbid]” he said. “Go and eat that fruit, and the you will live for ever.” Trust me, I am telling the truth,” he said. And the Prophet Adam (pbuh) believed him. That is amazing. His wife also believed it, as did he. They went and ate. The moment they ate, Allah lifted the imaging of those garments of paradise. They then covered themselves up with the leaves of paradise. They tried to cover their bodies. Then, as you now, Allah sent them down to the dimension of this world. Then when he saw his weakness in this world, his body’s natural needs and his helplessness, the Prophet Adam (pbuh) wept, he was so shaken up. He never imagined that human beings could be so helpless. He was amazed to see that feature of his body. Because he was used to there being no such thing in paradise. Then he looked at this world and everything was very harsh. Of course one develops a perfect faith and character. Then Almighty Allah took him back to paradise. We can see how essential the test is. Some people ask, “What need is there for the test? It would be better just to go to paradise direct.” But it is not as you imagine. May He forbid, in that case people might still have doubts about Allah in paradise. They may not be sure that Allah keeps His word. Because the concept of virtue also exists in paradise. Punctiliousness over what is lawful and unlawful also exists in paradise. Muslims go there with the training they receive here. They still fear Allah there. They both love and fear Him. Fear of Allah does not cease in paradise. The believer will always love and fear Allah, insha’Allah.

I could go into more detail about the secret behind the death of small children. But let me just say this. They do not suffer. Let me just say that. But there is another aspect. If any of our brothers are curious about this in private conversations, I can also say this. Allah is infinitely al-Halim [The Forbearing], infinitely merciful. It is He Who teaches us mercy. It is He Who teaches us pity and forgiveness and love. We learn these things with the compassion we learn from Him. We learn them by the will of Allah, insha’Allah.

But we may encounter the flames and phenomena of hell in a way we never imagined. For example, we think of the chains of hell as being chains of metal. But we may encounter chains of a kind we never imagined. There are the gates of hell and of paradise. We think of gates as being of metal or of wood. But there may be gates of light we never imagined before. They may be dimensional gates. There may be things we had never imagined. Allah is not obliged to describe them. He just tells us to “believe.” We will see when we get there. Allah has provided no detail. But He does speak of things no eyes have seen and no tongues have tasted. We do not know. These things are not such as we can fully comprehend. But it will be like waking from sleep. Once you awake it is all over, insha’Allah.

A9 TV; October 12th, 2011

Human beings are like flowers. Think of a violet; it blossoms; it has amazing colors. It has a texture like velvet and a very bright appearance. Ten days later we look and see that it has wilted and turned pitch black. Such is a human being. A very beautiful being is all of a sudden buried in a grave. A handful of bones, a skull, a few bones of limbs; that is it. This is how the life of this world is. But the life of the Hereafter is infinite. It has no limits; quadrillions of years pass by; multiply it by another quadrillions of years, the endless life is still unlimited. But this life has an end.

It is a great blessing for a person to attain immortality. The one thing that comes to minds of people day and night is death but they try not to make others feel it. For instance, they talk about football matches in order to lessen the effect of it. Or the purpose of chatting about insignificant things is again to get away from the fear of death. The purpose of vain talk and yelling in discos is the wish to forget death. For this reason, living for all eternity is one of the greatest blessings granted to believers. Having a beginning but no end. For this reason, it is a great reason of joy and a blessing for a Muslim to know that there will be young people in paradise who are destined to be always young and that he will be one of them.

A9 TV, 7 August 2011

Allah is greater than everyone and everything. Man is a feeble entity. A person may serve as head of state in a space the size of a lentil in his brain. Allah shows him this in a space the size of a pinhead. There is no room for pride or arrogance. People then just fall to piece in the grave. Their intestines protrude from their mouths. One must be loving and compassionate and good natured. People do not expect pride or arrogance. People like others who are modest and loving. Arrogant people upset them. Eventually, everyone becomes one with the soil, and that is that. Even their bones rot away and everyone will appear in the Presence of Allah. Nobody has any rank in the grave. One must be humble and modest. Allah shows us things as an image. There is a soundless, colorless world, that Allah creates in full color in our brains. All words are spoken in our destinies. If someone becomes head of state, it is Allah Who places him. He was in that post in destiny before his parents even existed. There is nothing for any rational person to be proud or arrogant about.

“A relaxed eye.” This expression of our Prophet’s (saas) is a very important one. There being a calm in one’s glance. Feeling calm wherever the eye looks. Not troubling the eye or the soul is all a very excellent thing. One must look at all the Prophet’s (saas) prayers and analyze his character. Our Prophet (saas) refers to a coolness after death. People want to be at ease after death. There must be no tension at the moment of death, nor after it. Almighty Allah has given many guarantees about the end. Allah says you will experience no difficulty of any kind. You will not grieve of fear. Allah even says you will not even be harmed so much as a fiber in a date seed. The clarification is most excellent. But asking for a relaxed eye after death is a superb thing to say. To go with Azrael and the other angels in a cool and calm state. Because Almighty Allah sets out the stages for arriving at paradise; yet there may still be tension in some people. That is why Allah gives so many guarantees in the Qur’an, so people can relax. When they enter paradise they do so with greeting. There is a relaxed air. Saying “Salaam” means enter in safety. Once one has entered paradise one is fixed in eternity. Death is dead after that. Death is dead for all eternity. For example, our Prophet (saas) says, “enlighten my veins.” An enlightened vein is never sick or blocked. “Enlighten my flesh” he prays. An enlightened flesh never develops tumors or cancer or anything. These are excellent expressions, masha’Allah.

People are helpless, but they ignore the fact. It is important to tell them that from time to time and encourage them to think. That is a commandment of the Qur’an. Our Prophet (saas) also says, “Remember death very often.” There can be no maturity in someone who does not think of death. Such is person is as if half mad. He becomes unbalanced if he does not think of Allah, religion and the truths of the Qur’an.